Time Picks Billy Elliot As Year's BestCalling it a "show that that really earns its cheers and tears," even though "the cast and production don't quite measure up to the brilliant London original,"
Time magazine's theatre writer Richard Zoglin names
Billy Elliot - The Musical as the year's number one musical or play. (Meanwhile, the Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara also included
Billy Elliot on his top ten list.)
Below are Zoglin's other picks and my running commentary:
2.
Hair -- I missed the Central Park version, but hope to catch it come February at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld.
4.
The Visit -- Hurrah!
I loved this production last Memorial Day while at the DC area's Signature Theatre. When will it finally receive a well-deserved New York City run?
5.
Black Watch -- This ranks as my biggest disappointment of the year, not because I didn't like it, but because I was unable to see it. Shame on me.
8.
Blasted -- Blasted! I missed this one, too! But it's still playing at the SoHo Rep.
10.
Farragut North -- Hey, I tried to get tickets, but the show sold out on me!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: All My Sons, Best Of Lists, Billy Elliot The Musical, Black Watch, Blasted, Farragut North, Hair, Reasons To Be Pretty, South Pacific, The Little Mermaid, The Visit, Time
A State Of Honorable ConfusionThis morning,
The New York Time's
Campbell Robertson writes about all those shows that
New York Post's Michael Riedel and others have promised were Broadway bound.
The much heralded list includes:
13 - "more likely at this point"
Farragut North - "opening on Broadway in the fall. Doug Hughes directing. 'Exciting people' in the cast"
Guys And Dolls - "pretty much a dead letter"
Pal Joey - "will probably make it here, perhaps next year"
Porgy And Bess - "more likely at this point"
Stalag 17 - "producers postponed the production to the fall of 2008"
The Female Of The Species - now "scheduled for...Broadway in the spring of 2009"
The Wiz - into the abyss
The laundry list of shows many thought would already be performing on Broadway helps explain why Rocco Landesman of Jujamcyn says:
Delays are a normal part of the process.... When a date is announced as an opening date, it’s really a hoped-for date. When a show arrives perfectly on schedule, that’s actually more anomalous.
Or as producer Jeffrey Richard describes the delay of Farragut North:
There was a state of honorable confusion.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: 13, Broadway, Farragut North, Guys And Dolls, Pal Joey, Porgy And Bess, Stalag 17, The Female Of The Species, The Wiz
Surely Ayckbourn Couldn't Be Lamenting These Actors?As noted last January, acclaimed British playwright
Sir Alan Ayckbourn offered a stinging screed that Hollywood stars are "ruining the theatre" via an interview with
The Times of London. His concern was that if fans ventured into a theatre for the first time specifically to see their favorite stars only to leave " profoundly disappointed and disenchanted," they'd never come back.
Fast forward to this week, when separate stories of two high-profile film stars' detours via the Great White Way made the news.
First up was the
word in Michael Riedel's New York Post column that
Jake Gyllenhaal would likely make his Broadway debut via
Beau Willimon's
Farragut North, a political play based loosely on the communications team behind Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Hee-YAAAAAAAAAH!
Then came
word earlier today via Variety's Gordon Cox that
Annette Bening would return to Broadway for only her second time. After a twenty-year absence, she will star next April in
Joanna Murray-Smith's
The Female Of The Species under the direction of red-hot director
Michael Mayer (who just won the Tony for
Spring Awakening). In
The Female Of The Species, "Mrs.
Warren Beatty" will portray a feminist writer.
The comedy enjoyed its world premiere last September at Australia's
Melbourne Theatre Company to
good reviews. Prior to its Broadway berth, a February/March out-of-town tryout will play Hollywood's very own
Geffen Playhouse.
It's hard for me to imagine either of these Tinsel Town stars
ruining live theatre. As a three-time Oscar nominated actress, Bening has already proven her stage capability by earning a Tony nomination for her 1988 work in
Tina Howe's
Coastal Disturbances.
As for the young heartthrob actor, it's hard to forget his tender, Academy Award-nominated performance last year in "
Brokeback Mountain." After participating in a
Farragut North reading alongside such notable stage names as
Denis O'Hare and
Alison Pill (who, incidentally, is already scheduled to play opposite
Bobby Cannavale this October in Manhattan Theatre Company's production of
Theresa Rebeck's
Mauritius), Gyllenhaal was characterized by a Riedel operative as "handsome and charming, very compelling in the role" of a political communications director.
Expect to see confirmation of a Broadway appearance shortly to be followed, presumably, by an Ayckbourn meltdown.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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The Empire Strikes Back! (January 26, 2007)
Labels: Annette Bening, Broadway, Farragut North, First Word On New Show, Jake Gyllenhaal, The Female Of The Species
